


we dream in the dark for the most part

by AsFarAsICouldSee, BraverThanIWas



Series: Chess Queens and Raven Princes [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Chess, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Chess, Complicated Relationships, Dysfunctional Relationships, Fantasy, Grief/Mourning, I Blame Tumblr, I REPEAT., M/M, Other, Politics, Royalty, THIS. IS. AN. ALTERNATE. UNIVERSE., canon is rolling in it's grave and you just witnessed a murder if it wasn't dead already, complicated feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-01 09:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15771603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsFarAsICouldSee/pseuds/AsFarAsICouldSee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/BraverThanIWas/pseuds/BraverThanIWas
Summary: In which Kevin Day is a Queen but it doesn't seem like it most of the time, Jean Moreau is a glorified Pawn, and Riko Moriyama is going to have the next person who whispers 'Raven Prince' executed.





	1. nevermore (of saintly days of yore)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shihoran](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shihoran/gifts), [crownsandbirds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownsandbirds/gifts), [okayantigone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayantigone/gifts).
  * Inspired by [fantasy/chess au](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/408894) by shihoran. 



Riko arrives in a flurry of feathers. How many birds did you kill for this? Kevin thinks almost idly, tensing up in a direct contrast. They stalk towards him, eyes iced over apathetically. Their movements are formal and stiff, showing no emotion, but Kevin hasn’t been stayed Queen for all these years without being able to read the utter fury sown into the set of their shoulders and tilt of their head. 

 

They wait until they’re standing an arms distance away from Kevin to reveal their hand. Kevin looks up at them. He doesn’t get up. Riko would probably push him down if he did. 

 

“Why did I find out from my knight that you conducted peace talks with the White Board?” the words are soft and carefully crafted in their pacing, drawn out with an unshaking hand. 

 

“It wasn’t a peace talk. We were discussing a rescheduling on the possibility of peace-” 

 

“Did I say you could talk?”

 

Kevin doesn’t bite on his lip to stop the words. He still hasn’t used up the lip balm that Riko had gifted him when they noticed his dry and bleeding lips. If he has to taste lavender and magnolia tea one more time on his lips, he might do something he’ll regret. 

 

With a sigh, Riko drops into the seat next to him, hand brushing back stray locks of their hair. 

 

“I honestly don’t know what to do with you sometimes. Next time ask before you make a move like this.”

 

Kevin nods. He’d expected a one sided argument or cracked tea cups, but this isn’t much better. Storms don’t stop raging halfway through. Storms start building up quietly. He drinks his tea.

  
  



	2. many a flirt and flutter (ebony bird beguiling)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the raven prince stalks, not walks

“the raven prince,” they whisper as Riko positively stalks down the hallway, pretending that he can’t hear them. Kevin suppresses the flash of irritation that wells up, _walking_ after the raven prince. _the raven prince doesn’t walk, Kevin snipes mentally. they stalk. heaven forbid that they walk._  

 

Riko stalks into the throne room, the doors sealing over the moment he takes the first step up.  the moment the door seals over Riko throws a knife at the wall. it spears into a plaque next to the late Knight Seri Griffin nee Kain. Kevin winces, making a note to have new flowers added to her memoriam.

 

the raven prince, Riko hisses. the raven **_prince_ ** **,** they hiss as they stalk in half formed figures around the perimeter and area of the room.  Kevin tries to disappear into the wall, to become one with the really nice embellished walls. this, he thinks, would be a good time for an actual queen to exist. not a knight that was Second to the King who wasn’t a King but a Raven Prince.

 

a raven flies down to his feet. how did it- where did it- ‘fly away!’ Kevin hisses quietly at the raven, trying to sweep it out of the room with five cm of distance between his sweeping arms and the raven. _if I have to see another dead bird for the sake of symbolism of complicated things that really aren’t complicated if someone would talk about, I will scream. very quietly. in my head._ he does not scream. nevermore the fifteenth does not fly away.

 

they look a lot like nevermore the twelfth, he decides. the have the same blue-black feathers and empty eyes. in fact, he might have mistaken fifteen for twelve if it wasn’t for the fact that fifteen was alive. or was it?

 

‘did you get revived through illegal necromantical activities?’ he whispers to the raven. ‘i won’t tell anyone if you did’. it’s ridiculous and nevermore the fifteenth doesn’t deign him with a response.

 

Riko isn’t in the room anymore when he looks up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nevermore the 15th is my favourite character, and I want it to be known. If you see any typos or mistakes, please leave a comment and let me know. Thank you for reading!


	3. the propaganda effect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The propaganda effect of hand knitting cannot be estimated in terms of hard cash, but it is considerable.

 

_The propaganda effect of hand knitting cannot be estimated in terms of hard cash, but it is considerable._

 

* * *

 

“I made you a scarf". Riko says casually, just before before the ship will depart. Their mouth twists into something like a smile as they talk. 

 

He hands them the scarf, and Kevin holds it uncertain to what they expect him to do. They were holding it just then, so it can’t be poisoned, unless it’s long-term exposure poison, or are there allergens sown in? Something irritating and painful that he wouldn’t notice until it was all but cutting into him-

 

“Don’t you like it?”

 

There’s an imitation of sorrow on Riko’s face, and they almost looks hurt, but there’s a enough of twist in their lips that Kevin knows that he's being played. It doesn't stop the move from happening.

 

“When did you get the time to make a scarf?” he chokes out instead, mouth suddenly dry, knocked off kilter and struggling to find footing.

 

Riko smiles sharply. “ I had a lot of time while you were at Ambassadorial meetings.” They ambassadorial meetings in a way that, combined with their light tone, creates a cutting remark. Their tone is light, but they say ambassadorial meetings in a way that cuts into Kevin more than the biting wind near the harbor. 

 

It’s a good scarf aesthetically speaking. Kevin glances down at the black wool interwoven with red and just a hint of white to balance it out. Riko catches his gaze and smiles even brighter.

 

"Don't forget where your loyalties lie," Riko whispers as he embraces them briefly, still smiling. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 _The question of why garments should be knit by hand sometimes arose during the early months of the war. Knitters countered with the fact that donated hand-knits cost the military nothing, were produced without expense and machine wear and tear, and that hand-knit socks outlasted machine-knit socks. Most importantly, t_ _he propaganda effect of hand knitting cannot be estimated in terms of hard cash, but it is considerable._

_“ A sweater for a bluejacket. A helmet for a flying cadet, made by some devoted woman in a small town far from the war, is sure to arouse interest in the navy or Air Force among the friends of the woman doing the knitting. And she herself feels that she has an active part in this vast conflict; she is not useless, although she can do nothing else to help win the war”_

_(The New York Times, January 22, 1942)._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi whoever is still reading this! i have rough drafts of the next few chapters in a doc, and they need serious revision, but have this new chapter anyway! i'm not entirely happy, and i know that it could do better, that i can always be better, but this is the closest to ready out of all the chapters. Acknowledgement/shout out to PaigeTico though, for motivating me to stop locking up all the chapters out of fear of failure. 
> 
> you can't edit and revise everything. and sometimes you need to let it go, or else you never will. 
> 
> EDIT:ALSO I JUST REMEMBERED THAT WE HAVE AN ACTUAL CHAPTER COUNT NOW. DOES THIS MEAN THAT I HAVE GOTTEN MY LIFE TOGETHER AND HAVE THAT MANY CHAPTERS READY FOR REVISION? I DON'T KNOW! AND NEITHER DO YOU. But hey, maybe it'll inspire me more.
> 
> AN: i wrote my speech on the role of women in ww1 and ww2. knitting was an important part, so if you're ever wondering how i get inspired, this was inspired by that.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to @shihoran for their art and inspiring me to post this. it's been in the works for a while, and it's... this is cathartic? in the words of crownsandbirds. and therapeutic in a way. thank you for reading. please leave a comment or kudos on the way out if you even vaguely liked it. honestly though? this is so far from canon that... i don't even know what it is.


End file.
